|
For you are prisoners of war, in an enemy's country - of a war, too, that
is
unrivalled for its injustice, cruelty, meanness -- Frederick Douglass (1850) |
It is increasingly easy to stereotype
the men and women on Death row. The State does it every day, as does
the press. Those banished to the most exclusive club
in America are deemed worthy of damnation,
and in truth, all are presumed guilty,
for did not a jury say so?
Then one meets Fred
Thomas, a 53-year-old great-grandfather, who was projected
to a jury as homeless, heartless and
in the words of the DA, "a predator."
In a brief, week-long trial that went poorly defended, a jury convicted Fred of 1st degree murder, and a day later, on February 28, 1995, sent Fred to Death Row in Pennsylvania.
Why should one care about a "homeless,
heartless, predator?" Clearly the jury didn't.
What the jury never learned was that
an eyewitness, located the day after the killing
of a FedEx driver in the so-called
"Bad lands" of North Philly, gave a statement to
the cops that she witnessed the shooting,
named two of the assailants, and described
the third, none of which remotely resembled
Thomas. Indeed, her statement was corroborated by another witness,
who saw the three men running away !
I know; I know; the question arises,
well how did the prosecutor convict this man ? Well, in their first
attempt, they didn't, for the jury refused to convict, and a hung
jury was declared.
In the 2nd trial, the State provided
two witnesses, both crack addicts, who claimed
they saw Fred fleeing the scene, but
even they could not go as far as saying they saw
him shoot anyone, or even armed.
According to the woman who did see the shooting,
however, one of the assailants was
related to one of the two witnesses who now
placed Fred at the scene. These
"witnesses," both of whom had extensive criminal
histories, were not asked about their
drug-related activities, despite repeated
requests of counsel to do so.
A homeless man, desperate for a dollar to survive,
might rob and kill a truck driver;
as would a drug addict. But Fred wasn't a homeless
man, nor an addict, but a hard-working
man, who worked a variety of jobs to support
his growing family. When a group
of his former and present employers appeared in
court on his behalf, they were told
by his counsel that they weren't necessary.
They left. The jury never heard from
the main witness because she was threatened
with the taking of her children.
At an extraordinary bench warrant hearing to compel
the witness's presence, the State revealed
an extraordinary distaste for a person
who gave a statement in a murder proceeding:
ADA: Well as I stated earlier, anything that the Commonwealth could do
to
assist, of course, we will. Back
in October I brought to the Court's attention that,
and we shared the information with
defense counsel: One, that this person was on
welfare under an assumed name.
Defense: Yes, I have that.
ADA: Thus, there is a real basis for a charge of welfare fraud. We
actively
looked for her during the various tours
that my officers were working....
[Pre-trial Hearing, Com. V. Thomas 2/13/95]
Again,
this is a witness, not a suspect ! Contrary to popular opinion, under
existing rules, the processing of a death sentence is the easiest in the
system.
Oh yeah, the cops involved? They
are almost all doing time for the corruption
scandal around the 39th police district.
Guess who " found " the witnesses ?
Guess who prepped them ?
And guess who advised others not to show up ?
The infamous 39th District, which has a certain expertise in using drug
addicts
and whores when they need "witnesses,"
are at the root of why Fred Thomas
is on
death row, and not at home with his
loving grandchildren. He is innocent of murder,
and as of this writing, has a date
to die for November 23rd, 1999. Now, in truth, he
may survive past this death warrant,
his second. But the question arises, will he
survive Death Row? A 53-year
old, he recently was diagnosed as diabetic, and is
now insulin-dependant. He has
one fervent hope: " I hope my health don't give out,
so I can live long enough to prove
my innocence."
© MAJ 1999
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